[NTLK] iPhone is not the new Newton (& announcing a Newt sell-off shortly)

[Jon Glass]

On Sunday, December 27, 2009, Edward Kenworthy <edward at kenworthy.info> wrote:
>
> About the only things that the iPhone has in common with the Newt are that it's made by Apple and has a touch screen.
>
I view technology in a different way. I view it not by the whiz-bang
features, but by what those features enable me to do. As such, I
remember that my MP120 NOS 1.3 for a year back in 1995-96, to travel
for months at a time without any other computer but my Newt. It
enabled me to communicate by email (Aloha for aol), write and print
letters and envelopes, track my traveling expenses, budget and all my
car maintenence, while freeing me from being tied to a desktop.

Without the newton, there would be no Palm, no Treo and no iPhone.

 I have, unfortunately, gotten used to my Treo's single-tasking
limitations, but the Newton is still superior to all its successors in
that it was designed from the ground up to multitask.

It was also designed to leverage the communication technologies of
it's day. That was where it shone for me.

To end my ramblings, I have to say this. While the iPhone is in many
ways nothing like the Newton, I am finding myself considering it in
the same way I considered my Newton. I bought my Wind because it was
tiny but my iPhone is tinier still. While it's not a complete
replacement for my computer , I find I can leave it home a lot more
than when I used my Treo. It is c
very much the Newton's successor when it comes to what it enables me to do.

And for those who have jail-breaker (jailbroken?) check out
Powerswitcher! It gives genuine multitasking (together with
backgrounder) to the iPhone and it's sweet! I found it in Cydia's Big
Boss repo, so ignore the advice to add its repo.

Oh and I wrote this missive on my iPhone.lovin it!

- Jon

-- 
 -Jon Glass
Krakow, Poland
<jonglass at usa.net>

"I don't believe in philosophies. I believe in fundamentals." --Jack Nicklaus